Revelers Raise Money For Charity

Throw a big block party and parade, charge $150 for anyone who wants to enter a float and hand out kazoos at $1 a shot for folks to buzz away as they watch the zaniness.

That is what the Leukemia Society of America did on Sunday, and it worked better than even the society expected.

``We didn`t think we`d have a crowd this big,`` said Judy Perillard, director of the Broward County branch of the society.

Perillard was watching as thousands of people poured into Bubier Park in Fort Lauderdale for the finale of the first annual Lite Louie Louie for Leukemia Parade on Sunday.

And just what is a Lite Louie Louie for Leukemia Parade?

``It`s a wild crazy party,`` one man shouted as the parade made its way along Las Olas Boulevard from Northeast 15th Avenue west to Bubier Park.

The man who epitomized the unconventional bent of the whole affair was bearded, had long hair, dressed in jeans and wore an 8-foot long, 50-pound boa constrictor around his neck and shoulders. He identified himself as Pug.

The Fort Lauderdale parade was one of 50 being held by the Leukemia Society nationwide on Sunday to help raise money to fight leukemia.

The order of the day was anything goes, just have fun.

``We told them to dress up and act crazy and have fun, and raise money,`` Perillard said of participants in the parade.

So what spectators got was the likes of a contingent of firefighters and officers from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue armed with water guns, and the three-man band LL and the Bratwurst.

``We`re just a bunch of idiots just out to have fun with the Leukemia Society,`` said Louie Ludovico.

Ludovico blew a kazoo and banged out on a mini keyboard the chords to the parade theme -- the 1963 version of Louie, Louie -- as his twin brother, Bob, beat away on a snare drum. Their guitarist, who strummed along, would identify himself only as Zoids.

More than 50 volunteers had worked about six weeks to get the Fort Lauderdale parade together, Perillard said, yet no one anticipated the turnout.

The Broward and Dade chapters of the society had expected to raise about $6,000 from a crowd of 2,000 to 3,000 people, Perillard said.

But by 2 p.m., Perillard said, she had received a report that about 4,000 people arrived by the start of the parade. As the crowd continued to grow, Perillard said she expected to raise at least $10,000.